wp_list_categories( array|string $args =  ): void|string|false

Displays or retrieves the HTML list of categories.

Parameters

$argsarray|stringoptional
Array of optional arguments. See get_categories() , get_terms() , and WP_Term_Query::__construct() for information on additional accepted arguments.
  • current_category int|int[]
    ID of category, or array of IDs of categories, that should get the 'current-cat' class. Default 0.
  • depth int
    Category depth. Used for tab indentation. Default 0.
  • echo bool|int
    Whether to echo or return the generated markup. Accepts 0, 1, or their bool equivalents. Default 1.
  • exclude int[]|string
    Array or comma/space-separated string of term IDs to exclude.
    If $hierarchical is true, descendants of $exclude terms will also be excluded; see $exclude_tree. See get_terms() .
  • exclude_tree int[]|string
    Array or comma/space-separated string of term IDs to exclude, along with their descendants. See get_terms() .
  • feed string
    Text to use for the feed link. Default ‘Feed for all posts filed under [cat name]’.
  • feed_image string
    URL of an image to use for the feed link.
  • feed_type string
    Feed type. Used to build feed link. See get_term_feed_link() .
    Default empty string (default feed).
  • hide_title_if_empty bool
    Whether to hide the $title_li element if there are no terms in the list. Default false (title will always be shown).
  • separator string
    Separator between links. Default <br />.
  • show_count bool|int
    Whether to include post counts. Accepts 0, 1, or their bool equivalents.
    Default 0.
  • show_option_all string
    Text to display for showing all categories.
  • show_option_none string
    Text to display for the ‘no categories’ option.
    Default ‘No categories’.
  • style string
    The style used to display the categories list. If 'list', categories will be output as an unordered list. If left empty or another value, categories will be output separated by
    tags. Default 'list'.
  • taxonomy string
    Name of the taxonomy to retrieve. Default 'category'.
  • title_li string
    Text to use for the list title <li> element. Pass an empty string to disable. Default 'Categories'.
  • use_desc_for_title bool|int
    Whether to use the category description as the title attribute.
    Accepts 0, 1, or their bool equivalents. Default 0.
  • walker Walker
    Walker object to use to build the output. Default empty which results in a Walker_Category instance being used.
More Arguments from get_categories( … $args )Array or string of arguments. See WP_Term_Query::__construct() for information on accepted arguments.

Default:''

Return

void|string|false Void if 'echo' argument is true, HTML list of categories if 'echo' is false.
False if the taxonomy does not exist.

More Information

If you need a function that does not format the results, try get_categories().

Usage

By default, wp_list_categories() displays:

  • No link to all categories
  • Sorts the list of Categories by the Category name in ascending order
  • Displayed in an unordered list style
  • Does not show the post count
  • Displays only Categories with posts
  • Sets the title attribute to the Category Description
  • Is not restricted to the child_of any Category
  • No feed or feed image used
  • Does not exclude any Category and includes all Categories
  • Displays the active Category with the CSS Class-Suffix ‘ current-cat’
  • Shows the Categories in hierarchical indented fashion
  • Display Category as the heading over the list
  • No SQL LIMIT is imposed (‘number’ => 0 is not shown above)
  • Displays (echos) the categories
  • No limit to depth
  • All categories.
  • The list is rendered using a new walker object of the the Walker_Category class

Source

function wp_list_categories( $args = '' ) {
	$defaults = array(
		'child_of'            => 0,
		'current_category'    => 0,
		'depth'               => 0,
		'echo'                => 1,
		'exclude'             => '',
		'exclude_tree'        => '',
		'feed'                => '',
		'feed_image'          => '',
		'feed_type'           => '',
		'hide_empty'          => 1,
		'hide_title_if_empty' => false,
		'hierarchical'        => true,
		'order'               => 'ASC',
		'orderby'             => 'name',
		'separator'           => '<br />',
		'show_count'          => 0,
		'show_option_all'     => '',
		'show_option_none'    => __( 'No categories' ),
		'style'               => 'list',
		'taxonomy'            => 'category',
		'title_li'            => __( 'Categories' ),
		'use_desc_for_title'  => 0,
	);

	$parsed_args = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );

	if ( ! isset( $parsed_args['pad_counts'] ) && $parsed_args['show_count'] && $parsed_args['hierarchical'] ) {
		$parsed_args['pad_counts'] = true;
	}

	// Descendants of exclusions should be excluded too.
	if ( $parsed_args['hierarchical'] ) {
		$exclude_tree = array();

		if ( $parsed_args['exclude_tree'] ) {
			$exclude_tree = array_merge( $exclude_tree, wp_parse_id_list( $parsed_args['exclude_tree'] ) );
		}

		if ( $parsed_args['exclude'] ) {
			$exclude_tree = array_merge( $exclude_tree, wp_parse_id_list( $parsed_args['exclude'] ) );
		}

		$parsed_args['exclude_tree'] = $exclude_tree;
		$parsed_args['exclude']      = '';
	}

	if ( ! isset( $parsed_args['class'] ) ) {
		$parsed_args['class'] = ( 'category' === $parsed_args['taxonomy'] ) ? 'categories' : $parsed_args['taxonomy'];
	}

	if ( ! taxonomy_exists( $parsed_args['taxonomy'] ) ) {
		return false;
	}

	$show_option_all  = $parsed_args['show_option_all'];
	$show_option_none = $parsed_args['show_option_none'];

	$categories = get_categories( $parsed_args );

	$output = '';

	if ( $parsed_args['title_li'] && 'list' === $parsed_args['style']
		&& ( ! empty( $categories ) || ! $parsed_args['hide_title_if_empty'] )
	) {
		$output = '<li class="' . esc_attr( $parsed_args['class'] ) . '">' . $parsed_args['title_li'] . '<ul>';
	}

	if ( empty( $categories ) ) {
		if ( ! empty( $show_option_none ) ) {
			if ( 'list' === $parsed_args['style'] ) {
				$output .= '<li class="cat-item-none">' . $show_option_none . '</li>';
			} else {
				$output .= $show_option_none;
			}
		}
	} else {
		if ( ! empty( $show_option_all ) ) {

			$posts_page = '';

			// For taxonomies that belong only to custom post types, point to a valid archive.
			$taxonomy_object = get_taxonomy( $parsed_args['taxonomy'] );
			if ( ! in_array( 'post', $taxonomy_object->object_type, true ) && ! in_array( 'page', $taxonomy_object->object_type, true ) ) {
				foreach ( $taxonomy_object->object_type as $object_type ) {
					$_object_type = get_post_type_object( $object_type );

					// Grab the first one.
					if ( ! empty( $_object_type->has_archive ) ) {
						$posts_page = get_post_type_archive_link( $object_type );
						break;
					}
				}
			}

			// Fallback for the 'All' link is the posts page.
			if ( ! $posts_page ) {
				if ( 'page' === get_option( 'show_on_front' ) && get_option( 'page_for_posts' ) ) {
					$posts_page = get_permalink( get_option( 'page_for_posts' ) );
				} else {
					$posts_page = home_url( '/' );
				}
			}

			$posts_page = esc_url( $posts_page );
			if ( 'list' === $parsed_args['style'] ) {
				$output .= "<li class='cat-item-all'><a href='$posts_page'>$show_option_all</a></li>";
			} else {
				$output .= "<a href='$posts_page'>$show_option_all</a>";
			}
		}

		if ( empty( $parsed_args['current_category'] ) && ( is_category() || is_tax() || is_tag() ) ) {
			$current_term_object = get_queried_object();
			if ( $current_term_object && $parsed_args['taxonomy'] === $current_term_object->taxonomy ) {
				$parsed_args['current_category'] = get_queried_object_id();
			}
		}

		if ( $parsed_args['hierarchical'] ) {
			$depth = $parsed_args['depth'];
		} else {
			$depth = -1; // Flat.
		}
		$output .= walk_category_tree( $categories, $depth, $parsed_args );
	}

	if ( $parsed_args['title_li'] && 'list' === $parsed_args['style']
		&& ( ! empty( $categories ) || ! $parsed_args['hide_title_if_empty'] )
	) {
		$output .= '</ul></li>';
	}

	/**
	 * Filters the HTML output of a taxonomy list.
	 *
	 * @since 2.1.0
	 *
	 * @param string       $output HTML output.
	 * @param array|string $args   An array or query string of taxonomy-listing arguments. See
	 *                             wp_list_categories() for information on accepted arguments.
	 */
	$html = apply_filters( 'wp_list_categories', $output, $args );

	if ( $parsed_args['echo'] ) {
		echo $html;
	} else {
		return $html;
	}
}

Hooks

apply_filters( ‘wp_list_categories’, string $output, array|string $args )

Filters the HTML output of a taxonomy list.

Changelog

VersionDescription
6.1.0Default value of the 'use_desc_for_title' argument was changed from 1 to 0.
4.4.0The current_category argument was modified to optionally accept an array of values.
2.1.0Introduced.

User Contributed Notes

  1. Skip to note 12 content

    Display Categories Assigned to a Post

    Display the categories (or terms from other taxonomies) assigned to a post ordered by parent-child category relationship. Similar to the function get_the_category_list() which orders the categories by name. This example must be used inside the loop.

    $taxonomy = 'category';
    
    // Get the term IDs assigned to post.
    $post_terms = wp_get_object_terms( $post->ID, $taxonomy, array( 'fields' => 'ids' ) );
    
    // Separator between links.
    $separator = ', ';
    
    if ( ! empty( $post_terms ) && ! is_wp_error( $post_terms ) ) {
    
    	$term_ids = implode( ',' , $post_terms );
    
    	$terms = wp_list_categories( array(
    		'title_li' => '',
    		'style'    => 'none',
    		'echo'     => false,
    		'taxonomy' => $taxonomy,
    		'include'  => $term_ids
    	) );
    
    	$terms = rtrim( trim( str_replace( '<br />',  $separator, $terms ) ), $separator );
    
    	// Display post categories.
    	echo  $terms;
    }
  2. Skip to note 13 content

    Include or Exclude Categories

    To sort categories alphabetically and include only the categories with IDs of 16, 3, 9 and 5, you could write the following code:

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby' => 'name',
    		'include' => array( 3, 5, 9, 16 )
    	) ); ?> 
    </ul>

    The following example displays category links sorted by name, shows the number of posts for each category, and excludes the category with the ID of 10 from the list.

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby'    => 'name',
    		'show_count' => true,
    		'exclude'    => array( 10 )
    	) ); ?> 
    </ul>
  3. Skip to note 14 content

    Display or Hide the List Heading

    The title_li parameter sets or hides a title or heading for the category list generated by wp_list_categories. It defaults to ‘(__(‘Categories’)’, i.e. it displays the word “Categories” as the list’s heading. If the parameter is set to a null or empty value, no heading is displayed. The following example code excludes categories with IDs 4 and 7 and hides the list heading:

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'exclude'  => array( 4,7 ),
    		'title_li' => ''
    	) ); ?>
    </ul>

    In the following example, only Categories with IDs 9, 5, and 23 are included in the list and the heading text has been changed to the word “Poetry”, with a heading style of :

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'include'  => array( 5, 9, 23 ),
    		'title_li' => '<h2>' . __( 'Poetry', 'textdomain' ) . '</h2>'
    	) ); ?> 
    </ul>
  4. Skip to note 16 content

    Remove Parentheses from Category Counts

    When show_count=1, each category count is surrounded by parentheses. In order to remove the parentheses without modifying core WordPress files, use the following code.

    $variable = wp_list_categories( array(
    	'echo' => false,
    	'show_count' => true,
    	'title_li' => '<h2>' . __( 'Categories', 'textdomain' ) . '</h2>'
    ) );
    
    $variable = preg_replace( '~\((\d+)\)(?=\s*+<)~', '$1', $variable );
    echo $variable;
  5. Skip to note 17 content

    Display Terms in a custom taxonomy

    With Version 3.0 the taxonomy parameter was added to enable wp_list_categories() function to list Custom Taxonomies. This example list the terms in the taxonomy genre:

    // List terms in a given taxonomy using wp_list_categories (also useful as a widget if using a PHP Code plugin)
    
    $taxonomy     = 'genre';
    $orderby      = 'name'; 
    $show_count   = false;
    $pad_counts   = false;
    $hierarchical = true;
    $title        = '';
    
    $args = array(
      'taxonomy'     => $taxonomy,
      'orderby'      => $orderby,
      'show_count'   => $show_count,
      'pad_counts'   => $pad_counts,
      'hierarchical' => $hierarchical,
      'title_li'     => $title
    );
    ?>
    
    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( $args ); ?>
    </ul>
  6. Skip to note 19 content

    Only Show Children of a Category

    The following example code generates category links, sorted by ID, only for the children of the category with ID 8; it shows the number of posts per category and hides category descriptions from the title attribute of the generated links. Note: If there are no posts in a parent Category, the parent Category will not display.

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby'            => 'id',
    		'show_count'         => true,
    		'use_desc_for_title' => false,
    		'child_of'           => 8
    	) ); ?>
    </ul>
  7. Skip to note 20 content

    Display Categories with RSS Feed Links

    The following example generates Category links sorted by name, shows the number of posts per Category, and displays links to the RSS feed for each Category.

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby'    => 'name',
    		'show_count' => true,
    		'feed'       => 'RSS'
    	) ); ?>
    </ul>

    To replace the rss link with a feed icon, you could write:

    <ul>
    	<?php wp_list_categories( array(
    		'orderby'    => 'name',
    		'show_count' => true,
    		'feed_image' => '/images/rss.gif'
    	) ); ?>
    </ul>
  8. Skip to note 21 content

    Markup and Styling of Category Lists

    By default, wp_list_categories() generates nested unordered lists (ul) within a single list item (li) titled “Categories”.

    You can remove the outermost item and list by setting the title_li parameter to an empty string. You’ll need to wrap the output in an ordered list (ol) or unordered list yourself (see the examples above). If you don’t want list output at all, set the style parameter to none.

    You can style the output with these CSS selectors :

     li.categories { ... }  /* outermost list item */
     li.cat-item { ... }
     li.cat-item-7 { ... }  /* category ID #7, etc */
     li.current-cat { ... }
     li.current-cat-parent { ... }
     ul.children { ... }
  9. Skip to note 22 content

    ‘include’ is missing from the parameter list.

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